Ara Municipal Corporation yet to clean city for festivals

Kumar Rajiv Nayan

Ara :  Ara Municipal Corporation (AMC) has failed to clean the town even during Dussehra. The apathy of AMC   authorities has resulted in unhygienic condition in the town. Overflowing drains, heaps of garbage, broken culverts, dry taps and damaged lanes and bylanes are common sights. Yet neither the local MP nor the MLA is taking any interest in improving the civic condition though the locals are doing their bit to remove filth and garbage and cleaning the choked drains.

Roadside vendors enjoy a free run. After virtually laying siege to most of the footpaths and pavements in the heart of the town, they now have spilled on to the roads with their wares. Traffic jams have become endemic. The handcart vendors, three- wheelers and rickshaw-pullers have converted the main roads into the  parking zones. Commuting through on-the-road vegetable markets has become a risky venture. One never knows when a stray cattle may hit him. One has to walk with one hand on the nose to avoid inhaling the stench-filled foul air.

AMC Commissioner Pramod Kumar rued that his predecessors had made his task Herculean. The shortage of staff and scavengers has further added to his woes. This reporter visited several areas and saw heaps of garbage and overflowing drains in these areas.

With the AMC pushing all its resources to city main roads, the localities on the fringe have become no one’s baby, lamented Professor Vikramaditya Singh, a resident of Tilak Nagar. Sanitation workers are a rare sight in the areas, complained locals. Locals had to pull money to hire sanitation workers and rid the locality of the two overflowing bins of garbage, said a resident.

If the municipal commissioner Pramod Kumar and Mayor Priyam Devi are to be believed, things would improve in a couple of days.

Former Deputy Mayor, AMC, Basant Singh, alleged that huge amount had been misappropriated in the name of cleaning the town. In a communication to Municipal Commissioner Pramod Kumar, Singh has demanded thorough inquiry into it. A copy of the letter has been given to City Manager, AMC, Shekhar Kumar, too. He said that drains are never de-silted. But the AMC held the ward councillors responsible for the filth and garbage on roads and silt in drains.

Municipal Commissioner Pramod Kumar said that he had not gone through the letter of former Deputy Mayor Singh so far. He said that the drains and the roads will be cleaned.